Vision Zero at the ITE Annual Meeting

The Joint ITE/CITE 2017 Annual Meeting and Exhibit features pathways to help attendees maximize their learning experience. Vision Zero is one of these pathways. Attendees will be able to delve into and engage in this subject area through a myriad of ways such as one-on-one interaction with poster presenters, the give-and-take conversation circles, and the dissemination of information by thought leaders as well as the ability to speak with vendors displaying the latest products, services, and technologies in the exhibit hall.

As the transportation industry strives to achieve zero fatalities or serious injuries related to traffic crashes, agencies and practitioners are looking for ways to develop prioritized transportation plans to more effectively address bicycle and pedestrian safety. Typical components of these plans include: 1) identifying realistic goals to achieve Vision Zero, 2) coordinating inter-department/interagency communication to facilitate stakeholder buy-in, and 3) building off the plan to develop actionable items (bike/pedestrian safety action plan, project identification, etc.). This session includes discussion of the FHWA-sponsored Vision Zero Peer Exchange held in March 2017, the upcoming FHWA update to the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, and the work of ITE’s Vision Zero Task Force will be included, as well as highlights from the United States and Canada on success stories related to Vision Zero.

Learning Objectives:

Understand ITE’s role in Vision Zero, including current and future work of ITE’s

Vision Zero Task Force.

Describe methods to develop a bicycle and pedestrian safety action plan with Vision

This session showcases agencies who have been proactive and successfully developed/adopted programs to implement Vision Zero best practices. Representatives of cities or other agencies with examples to apply in practice today will share their latest successes. This session draws from the lessons learned in North Vancouver, BC; Austin, TX; Fort Lauderdale FL; and Puerto Rico, and discusses important aspects of implementing safety best practices as well as successful strategies that have been applied.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the state of the practice in reducing traffic deaths and severe injuries through

This panel discussion will address the need for a fundamental shift in the planning and design of transportation networks. Each month, the U.S. experiences the equivalent of a 9/11 attack in the form of traffic deaths. Efforts to curb traffic deaths have continued for decades, with little change. Local and state governments have been adopting Vision Zero policies with the dramatic goal of reaching *zero* traffic deaths. As Sweden discovered in the 1990s, prioritizing human life leads to a radical departure from “standard practices” in travel forecasting, traffic engineering, and geometric design. In short, our entire industry needs a philosophical shift or we’ll never reduce traffic deaths more than a few percentage points.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the moral and ethical expectations of professionals who have sworn to uphold codes of ethics.

What to Fix Next: Getting to the Goal of Vision Zero, Wednesday, August 2, 8:30—10:00 a.m.

What is the best process, and what are the best techniques to identify where safety improvement funds should be allocated? Are spot improvements more effective than corridor wide improvements? How should we screen high crash locations or corridors to determine the optimal improvements? Prioritizing safety improvements is an ongoing challenge for Departments of Transportation and jurisdictions of all sizes. This session examines different applications and resources to make informed decisions.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the influence and impact of the organization processes, policy, and program on transportation safety.

The Road to Zero must address at-grade rail crossings. Since collisions between trains and motor vehicles typically result in severe damage and fatalities, it is important that designers and legislators/public officials are focused on improving safety of at-grade rail crossings. This session highlights the most recent “best practices” for treatments at highway-rail grade crossings from an international perspective. The session also showcases emerging new guidance for implementation of traffic signal preemption at locations where the traffic signals are interconnected with the railroad active warning devices (flashing lights, bells and crossing gates). The session provides updates on both the USDOT Grade Crossing Handbook / Preemption Guide as well as Transport Canada’s updated grade crossing requirements manual.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the content of the upcoming ITE Recommended Practice for Preemption of Traffic Signals Near Grade Crossings.

Explain the use of updated Preemption Timing Worksheets recently developed by Texas A&M Transportation Institute for TXDOT.

Discuss key new content which will be available in the upcoming update to the USDOT Grade Crossing Handbook.

Describe the similarities and differences between Canadian and U.S. requirements for grade crossings.

Using Video Data to Evaluate Pedestrian, Bicycle and Vehicle Conflicts, Nancy Hui, MaSC candidate, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

The Impact of Marijuana Legalization on Traffic Safety in the United States, Jaeyoung Lee, Safety Program Director / Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

Challenges in Constructing Safe Routes to School in a Dense Urban Environment – The San Francisco Chinatown Safe Routes To School Project, Philip Louie, Associate Engineer, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco, CA